1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary, and more particularly to an electronic dictionary which stores first language information and second language information, searches for first language information using second language information, and outputs language information in a predetermined format.
2. Related Background Art
With known electronic dictionaries or electronic translators, a Japanese word or sentence for example is inputted, which is subjected to kana (inclusive of Japanese katakana and hiragana characters)/kanji (Japanese kanji character) conversion to display a translated English word or sentence equivalent to the inputted Japanese word or sentence. Translating first language information into second language information is conducted by searching a memory of a microprocessor which memory stores the first language information and second language information in one-to-one correspondence with each other, by using the first language information.
Information is outputted usually on a display such as a liquid crystal display, or it may be outputted as voices or prints as is well known.
Consider now the simplest electronic Japanese-English dictionary for example, in which a Japanese word is inputted using kana characters, and corresponding kanji representation and one or more English words or sentences are displayed. Such dictionary has no problem if a Japanese uses it in checking an English word or kanji representation corresponding to an input word.
However, a desire to learn the Japanese language is now increasing among foreigners. If a foreigner uses such a dictionary, the meaning of a kanji character corresponding to an English word can be understood because the English word together with the kanji character is outputted. However, the pronunciation of the kanji character is expressed by kana characters so that it is difficult for a foreigner to understand the pronunciation.
In view of the above, there has been proposed an electronic dictionary wherein alphabetical representation data for the pronunciation of Japanese kanji characters are previously stored in a memory and output it each time a Japanese entry word is inputted.
Most conventional electronic dictionaries store in a memory kanji character representations and their English translation equivalents, respectively for each Japanese entry word. If an alphabetical representation of an entry word is added thereto, the memory capacity increases and the cost becomes high. In addition, for a Japanese user, such alphabetical representation is not necessary and may cause the user to be confused in this translation work.